GREELEY, Colo. – The Idaho State volleyball team's season came to an end on Friday evening in the semi-finals of the Big Sky Conference volleyball tournament. The No. 5 seeded Bengals lost to No. 1 Northern Arizona 3-0 (17-25, 15-25, 21-25).
Idaho State finished its season 19-14 while NAU advances to Saturday nights championships game with a 25-8 record.
"I think we had a great year," Idaho State coach
Rick Reynolds said. "We had a few things we needed to work on that showed itself in the preseason tournaments. We got better week in and week out. It is a process. The girls trusted that process and did a lot of great things. Overall I am proud of this group and proud of our leaders. Haylie and Abby did a great job leading us. At different times we had great leadership all throughout the court."
Idaho State hit .142 for the match while the Lumberjacks finished with a hitting percentage of .252.
Abby Garrity led the Bengals with 11 kills while
Chelsea Johnson had 37 assists and
Haylie Keck had 22 digs.
Idaho State jumped out to an early 6-2 lead in set 1 following a kill by
Raegan Steiner. The Bengals later held a 12-10 lead after a kill by
Brooke Pehrson but NAU then went on a run to score ISU 15-5 to earn the 25-17 set 1 win.
The Bengals were in set 2 early leading 5-4 and trailing 10-9 following a kill by Garrity. Northern Arizona then went on a run to lead 18-11 and 20-12 to help seal the 25-15 win.
The Bengals had their best hitting percentage of the match in set 3, hitting .263. The improved percentage helped spark Idaho State to a 15-12 lead after a service ace by
Brooke Pehrson. The Bengals maintained a 17-16 lead when NAU went on a run to take the lead for good at 22-19.
